


I For an Eye

by orphan_account



Category: Dayshell (Band), Of Mice & Men (Band), Pierce the Veil, Sleeping With Sirens, Waterparks (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Anxiety Attacks, Bipolar Disorder, Complicated Relationships, Depression, Drugs, Eating Disorders, F/M, Hypochondria, Implied/Referenced Underage Drinking, M/M, Manic Episode, Mood Swings, Non-Consensual Drug Use, Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder, Recreational Drug Use, References to Depression, Substance Abuse, Underage Drinking, Underage Drug Use, Underage Substance Use, Unresolved Emotional Tension, Unresolved Romantic Tension, kellic is teased but not canon in the story sorry, this is literally my life in a story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-10
Updated: 2017-10-16
Packaged: 2019-01-15 11:57:25
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,322
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12320625
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: this has been orphaned due to recent allegations about shayley bourget and sexual misconduct and i will not support that or have that in my books.A short novel, "I For an Eye" revolves around a complicated friendship that is destroyed slowly over the course of time due to unrequited love, pain, and suffering from one party and the other party is suffering due to the effects and can’t handle it anymore, leading to the other party to be completely devastated and wrecked. With others being mutual friends among the two, they also suffer due to their complicated and toxic friendship.





	1. IT'S THE PAIN THAT RUNS

**Author's Note:**

> this book is entirely in Shayley's POV

I stared at the buildings in front of me in awe, not wanting to acknowledge that the campus is absolutely huge. I wasn't ready to go in, but I was already late. It was five minutes past eight o'clock and I was fairly sure we were supposed to be inside by maybe seven fifty-five the latest. What a great start to orientation. I was sure that I was going to make enemies with the school authorities and the year hadn't even started yet. 

"Come on, let's go," my father urged. I sat still for another moment, beating a hole into the school with my eyes. "I said let's go!"

"Yes, sir," I said quickly and opened the car door and rushed out. I followed him into the building and looked around at the buildings as we walked through the main hallway to the cafeteria, noting where the library was. I'd planned to spend my time in there since I expected I wouldn't make friends. Not quick ones, at least.

We entered the cafe and instantly I felt my face drain of color. It was crowded beyond belief and I was shocked as to how many freshmen were here. I assumed that most college kids wouldn't give a flying fuck about orientation. 

As I scanned the room, one person, in particular, caught my eye. He had dark brown hair - which looked to be dyed considering there were fiery ginger roots showing - and was wearing all black: black jeans, black shirt, black jacket, even his sneakers were black. I didn't know why I found him so interesting, but nonetheless, I did. I didn't have time to continue eyeing the guy down, trying to figure out what peaked my interest, as my dad urged me forward. I looked away quickly and followed.

"There are so many people here and I know none of them!" I said frantically as my dad and I stopped by an empty table. He sat down and looked over at the large alma-mater poster hanging from the white brick wall. I watch from the corner of my eye the boy in black stand up from his table and sit at mine on the other side. He doesn't acknowledge me or my dad and stares at his phone - which is also black. "I'm not gonna have any friends, I'm gonna be alone, it's all your fault, and life's gonna suck!" 

"You'll make friends," he shrugged. "You know what matters though? They say on the tapestry there that they're titans but those pictures are of Spartans."

"That's dumb, but not as dumb as the fact that I'm going to literally be alone! I'm gonna be alone! I have no friends and I'm gonna be awkward and you literally give no shits about this, do my feelings even matter to you?!" I shouted. 

"Of course your feelings matter," he responded. "You're just being unreasonable."

I scoffed.

"Besides, Shay, it's eight fifteen now, I should get going," he said as he stood up. I shook my head frantically. "I'll come get you at noon."

"No! You can't leave! You're the only person in the room I know!" I said quickly and shook my head. I saw the boy in black looking nonchalantly over at where I stood from the corner of my eye. I wondered why he was staring. This wasn't his business. 

"Sorry, kiddo," my dad said and ruffled my hair. I sent him a glare, fixing the green-knit beanie on the top of my head. "See you at noon."

"Fine," I huffed and crossed my arms, defeated. I sat down at the table across from the boy in black. He was still looking at me. "What?"

"So... About those Spartans, huh?" the boy asked. I furrowed my eyebrows, confused. 

"Hey! You were eavesdropping!" I said and sent another glare.

"Yes," he stated. "I was." 

"That's not cool," I said. 

"It made conversation, did it not?"

"That doesn't matter," I said. "It's not like I'm going to make any friends. I'm that awkward kid who sits in the back and gets scared the second some popular so much as looks at me."

"My name's Alan," the boy said and held out his hand. I shook it hesitantly, unsure of what to think. He was straight-forward and blunt; he was to the point. 

"I'm Shayley," I replied.

"There, now you have a friend," he grinned. I frowned.

"That's not how it works," I said. "With friendship comes trust, and with trust comes nothing but eternal pain and suffering."

"Geez, who hurt you?" he laughed. I looked away from him and down at the table.

"Doesn't matter," I said quietly. "Shut up, the people over there look like they're about to tell us what we're here for."

Alan and I stayed quiet and had looked over at the other side of the cafeteria where a few school officials had seemed to have been waiting for the rest of us to quiet down. One lady with dirty blonde hair stood at a podium with a microphone while a man with grey hair had set up a projector behind them. 

"Hello freshmen!" the blonde woman spoke loudly into the microphone, dragging out the 'e'. "Class of 2019! How's it feel to be here?"

"I want to leave already!" was shouted among the sea of teenagers. The blonde woman rolled her eyes.

"We're gonna start off the day right," she smiled widely, "by doing some lovely arts and crafts projects to build team bonding! Isn't that exciting?!" 

The students responded with an unexcited "yay". 

"Alright, sourpusses, get into teams at your tables. I want at least four per table!" she said and put down the microphone.

"Four?" I said. "Four?! I don't know that many people!"

"Calm down, dude," Alan chuckled. "We'll just team up with my brother and someone. No worries."

"Hey!! I'm Maddie! I'm sorry for interrupting, I was just late, I just got here just now, do you have room in your team? I'm Maddie, by the way," a girl spoke quickly after she ran up to our table, which seemed to be the emptiest table at the time. 

"Uh, h-hi, uh," I stammered.

"Hey, I'm Alan and this is Shayley," Alan said cheerily. "Yeah, yeah, you can join us. I'll go get my brother and we'll have our team of four."

"Okay, awesomesauce, cool, that's great!" she said. "Shayley, do you know what we're doing? Did they say yet? I hope it's something cool. I love doing cool things, especially arts and crafts projects! They're so creative and I love them so much! Do you like arts and crafts? Are you creative? What's your major here? You look like you'd be in... Vet! No, no, maybe not the vet program, you look too nervous for that. You don't need to be nervous! I'm really nice."

"Yeah, uh, I like arts and crafts sometimes," I said and shrugged. "I'm here for commercial arts."

"That's cool! I'm here for vet. I really love animals. My family owns a horse ranch," she said happily, pulling out her phone. "Hey! What's your number? I'll text you a photo... Or three hundred!"

"Wow, I don't think I have space on my phone for three hundred photos of horses," I said. Not to mention the fact that I had already been sent numerous photos of obscene horses by my ex at the time. I ignored the thought and had given her my number. 

"Shayley, Maddie, this is my brother, Mike," Alan said when he came back. His brother looked very similar to him, but at the same time completely different. 

"Hi," I said quietly as Mike sat down between Maddie and me, leaving the other side of the table uninhabited. The staff began setting down plastic tubs full of straws and bags of mini marshmallows at each of the tables. 

"Do you think we're going to make towers?!?!" Maddie squealed and grinned widely. Mike shrugged.

"Probably," he said. 

"I did this in boy scouts," Alan said and smiled. "This should be easy."

"Maybe for you," I responded. "It's probably a team effort and I'm shit at doing literally everything so I'm going to screw us all over."

"Don't say that," he frowned. "We'll work together and we'll do fine."

"Are you always this positive?" I asked.

"Yes, he is," Mike answered. "You don't get used to it."

"Quiet," Alan said. "Let's start."

-x-

It was nearly noon and Alan, Mike, Maddie and I were sat on a bench in the front of the school waiting for our rides home. 

"Hey, Alan! Mike! Give me your phone numbers so we can keep in touch!" Maddie said and handed her phone to Alan. They nodded and added in their phone numbers.

"What about Shayley?" Alan asked her. She grinned.

"I already got his."

"Ah, alright," he said. "Hey, Mike, look, dad's here."

"Huh? Oh, cool," Mike said and looked up from his phone. He was playing a game of chess. 

"See you guys later," Alan waved and stood up. "I'll see you guys later? At the scavenger hunt?"

"Yeah, see you," I said and waved. 

"Do you think that Alan's cute?" Maddie asked me as soon as Alan and Mike had left. I looked over at her and raised an eyebrow.

"Cute?" I asked.

"Don't play dumb, I can see the looks! You know, us girls are good with these things," she said. "But gosh, he's just so cute!! Do you think he likes me?"

"Likes you?" I asked again, though I sounded a bit more annoyed than confused. I didn't know where the pang of jealousy came from, but I had ignored it, assuming it was just myself being jealous over the possibility of not being the first-choice friend.

"That would be really awesomesauce if he liked me," she giggled. I rolled my eyes and saw my dad pull up.

"Well my dad's here, so, uh, bye," I said awkwardly and got up and rushed away. 

-x-

"Alright everybody!" the blonde woman boomed over the microphone. "Pair up in teams of two and get started! Remember to take pictures or take a video to prove you visited all the locations! And.... GO!"

"I'm going to pair up with Awsten," Alan said and nodded his head towards a skinny guy with pastel blue hair. "I'm excited for you to meet him, Shay. He's been my best friend since kindergarden." 

"Oh, cool," I said. "Uh, I guess I'll just do this by myself then."

"Just pair up with me and we'll tag along with them," Mike said and rolled his eyes. I frowned slightly and instantly felt uncomfortable. 

"I guess that works too," I shrugged and followed them as we left the cafeteria. "I'll video."

"Okay, did anyone pick up a map?" Alan asked as he looked at the pastel pink paper with the location names written on it. "Says we're supposed to go to the auditorium first."

"I did," Awsten said when he walked over. "Oh, and, uh, nice to meet you, Shay, I'm, uh, I'm Awsten, and uh, sorry, I talk fast when, I'm, uh, nervous, and I kind of stutter and ramble, sorry, I just, you're new."

"It's, uh, it's cool," I stammered. I had taken out my phone and pressed record, holding the phone up as if I had been video-blogging. 

"I think I saw the auditorium over by the portable buildings by the front of the campus," Mike said and broke the uncomfortable silence among us. I nodded.

"Let's go," I said. "So, uh, what music do you guys listen to?"

"Music?" Alan grinned and pulled his phone out of his pocket.

"Oh no," Mike mumbled and grabbed the locations paper from him. 

"Now if I just hit shuffle..." Alan spoke and soon his phone began to play a song from the band My Chemical Romance. It was off the album Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge.

"You're an MCR fan?" I asked. He shrugged.

"They're not my favorite but I do like some of their songs," he answered. "What about you?"

"Asking me to chose a favorite is like asking me to shoot a kitten," I joked. "But, uh, I like, uh, some bands, I guess."

"Cool," he said, ending the conversation. He began to hum to the song as we arrived at the auditorium. "What's next?"

"Uh... B.P. building?" Mike said.

"To P.P.!" I announced.

"B.P.," Mike corrected. 

"Oh, uh, to B.P.," I stammered and felt a wave of embarrassment wash over me. 

Soon, we covered all the places on campus and report back to the cafeteria. I had shown the woman the video and she approved. We sat down at the table we had originally been at. 

"Hey, my ride's here," Awsten said. "Alan, Mike, you guys coming?"

"Nah," Alan said. "Dad's picking us up. Thanks for the offer though."

"No problem," he said. "See you guys later. Nice meeting you, Shayley!" 

"You too," I said quietly and waved as he walked away. I felt my phone buzz and saw a text from my dad that said he had arrived. "I'll see you guys at the orientation announcements tonight."

"Bye, Shay!" Alan called out as I walked quickly away. The day so far had been mildly uncomfortable. I still had no idea what I found so intriguing about Alan and it had bothered me the entire day. 

I had hoped I would find out eventually.


	2. UNDERNEATH THE CHESTPLATE

"I'll pick you up at eight. See you, kiddo," Dad said after he had practically kicked me out of the car.

"Okay," I muttered. I was completely unhappy with the circumstances. I had to be here at orientation by myself and I was completely unaware of the whereabouts of Alan, Mike or Awsten. I had seen no familiar faces and I was in a crowd of strangers. It was completely unnerving to me.

I walked into the auditorium where the actual orientation part of freshmen orientation was being held and eyed my surroundings. I tried to find where Alan was but I couldn't find him. I had awkwardly headed to the right side of the auditorium.

"Shay! Over here!" I heard Alan call and I looked over to see Alan, Mike, Awsten and a few unfamiliar faces sitting a few rows ahead of where I had been. I nodded - mainly to myself - and waddled over to them and sat down between Alan and Awsten.

"Hi," I said and twiddled my thumbs. It was an uncomforting situation, being surrounded by people I didn't know. I didn't know their intentions or their personalities. I didn't know anything about them except for a small fact. I knew Alan liked My Chemical Romance, I knew that Mike was a sarcastic asshole, I knew that Awsten talked quickly and rambled like an idiot.

"Sup," Alan said and smiled. "Hey! There's this picture on my phone I wanna show you."

"Okay," I replied and looked over at Alan's phone. He took the phone and quickly snapped a photo. I stared blankly at him and frowned. "Not cool."

"Totally cool," he laughed. "Now you have a contact picture."

"Two can play at that game," I said and took a quick photo of him. He shrugged.

"Doesn't bother me," he said. I rolled my eyes.

"The lights are dimming, it looks like they're going to start talking soon," Awsten noted. I nodded.

"Yeah," I said quietly. The lights had dimmed and the blonde lady from before was at the podium. There was also a large screen that hung from the wall with a projector that shined a powerpoint slide. Welcome, Class of 2019! it said.

"Testing? Testing!" a man had said into a microphone. The man looked like he was an upperclassman rather than a member of the school's staff. "Class of 2019! How are you today?"

A roar went through the auditorium as well as students whistling and hooting. It was loud and made me much more uncomfortable than I had already been.

"Hey, sorry, is this seat taken? There aren't any seats left from what I've seen."

I looked over to my left and saw a guy with shaggy black hair that was covered by a purple beanie. He wore all black just like Alan did, but instead of jeans he wore cargo shorts and his sneakers were a bright, neon red. He had piercing green eyes and he looked nervous.

"It's not taken," I said. "You can sit there."

"Thanks," he said as he sat down. "My name's Kellin, by the way."

"I'm Shayley," I replied and glanced towards Alan and the loud boy next to him; I had caught his name to be Jorge. "This is Alan, Awsten, and Mike."

"Hey," Kellin waved and smiled softly. He turned his attention away from us back to the blonde woman.

"You know, students who do their homework are ninety times more likely to graduate than those who don't! So, do your homework and make your professors proud!" the blonde woman shouted into the microphone and continued to go off on a tangent about schoolwork and the importance of graduating and how to achieve that. 

I had drowned out the rest of the surroundings and ignored what the blonde woman was saying. I had no need to hear yet another adult telling me about what I needed to do to achieve things. I was here because I wanted to make art. It was the next best thing to making music, but I couldn't afford to go to that school. I had to make do with what I had. 

I glanced at Kellin since I had no interest in what the blonde woman was saying. I studied the way he held himself; he was timid and shy but seemed like he would be more outgoing once he left his shell. I studied the way his hair fell in front of eyes and the way he would subconsciously fix his beanie when it seemed to be slipping from his head. I studied his eyes and the way they'd change from blue to green and how they'd glow in the darkness from the small amount of ambient light. I studied his dark clothes and noted the band shirt he was wearing underneath his black jacket. It was a My Chemical Romance shirt with The Black Parade's album art on it: the soldier was marching in white. 

Orientation was a blur, for I had not paid any attention.

-x-

"First day, kiddo!" my dad grinned. I rolled my eyes at him. 

"Whatever," I grunted, frustrated that I had chosen classes that had gone at the same times as the ones I had in high school. I needed the familiarity and had stupidly chosen to take eight classes a day, starting with a morning class at 7:30 A.M. It was a mistake. 

"You got your schedule?" my dad asked. I nodded and held up the crumbled fluorescent orange paper. 

"Right here," I mumbled and rubbed my eyes. It was far too early in the morning for me. Thirteen years of waking up early and I had never gotten used to it. I wasn't a morning person.

"Good! Now your grandma wants a picture and so does your mother, so-"

"God, I don't even look decent," I groaned. "I thought we were done with this picture junk after my sophomore year in high school!"

"Yes, yes, but it's your first day of college, Shayley," he said. I rolled my eyes for what seemed to be the twentieth time that morning. 

"Whatever," I said. "I'm not putting in any effort for this and Mom can deal with that."

"You'll be the one hearing it," he said and pulled out his phone to snap a photo. I winced at the flash but got over it quickly. 

"It's seven," I said. "I gotta go. Bye, Dad."

"Bye, Shay," he waved and I left the house to hop on the city bus. I could dream for a ride to school, but that hadn't happened ever since kindergarten, and therefore I had given up my hopes. It was wishful thinking, but useless for the time being. 

I took a seat down in the middle of the bus and uncrumpled the schedule that I had placed in my jean's pocket. I scanned it to make sure I knew where I was going. I refused to make a bad impression on Day One. After all, it was Day One. This is what my teachers and my peers would see for the rest of the year, and what they would see for the rest of my life. No pressure. 

"Shit," I cursed under my breath as I had noticed that my schedule was completely wrong. They had put me in the wrong class: the wrong major.

I was supposed to be in two commercial art classes, not an architecture class. 

The bus arrived at the school campus and thanked the bus driver as I got off the bus. I headed straight towards the guidance office to talk with a guidance counsellor about the mixup with my schedule. 

"Excuse me?" I asked timidly after I had approached who seemed to be the friendliest councellor that was present at the time. "There's a mixup with my schedule. I was placed in the wrong major."

"Hmm?" the woman hummed and she looked up at me. I smiled softly at her. "What were you put in?"

"I was placed in architecture but I'm a commercial art student," I explained to her and handed her the crumbled paper. She hummed again as she scanned the print. She nodded.

"I see," she said. "Follow me. I'll check if we can fix that for you right now." 

"Okay," I said. I was confused about what she meant by that, but I had assumed that there were probably other freshmen who had schedules that were messed up as well. At this school, freshmen had the luxury to choose their times, but not necessarily their exact classes. They could suggest to their counsellor what they wanted, but in the end, the counsellor chose for them. 

"Name?" she asked as she sat down at her desk and typed on her computer.

"Shayley," I answered. "Shayley Bourget."

"Alright," she said and typed some more. Her fingers clacked loudly against the old plastic keys; the sound echoed throughout the spacious office. Her office area was larger than what I had seen of the other counsellor's. Perhaps she wasn't a counsellor but one of the dean's assistants. Or a secretary. 

"Are there a lot of freshmen who had schedules that had issues?" I asked in an attempt to fill the awkward silence in the air. 

"A few have come in," she said and shrugged. "You said commercial arts, correct?"

"Yes," I nodded. 

"Hmmm... It doesn't look like there aren't any available spots in the freshmen commercial art classes right now," she said. I frowned.

"What do you mean there aren't any spots?!" I asked angrily. "I came here and got accepted for commercial arts!" 

"I'm sorry Mr Bourget," she said and looked at me apologetically. "Maybe next year."

"Next year?!" I shouted and shook my head. "No way! I need to be in my commercial art classes."

"Maybe there's another major you'll like instead?" she asked. I frowned. "What about journalism? Or maybe you'll like architecture."

"I'd rather do school online," I muttered. "I want to be in commercial arts, otherwise I don't have a reason to be here."

"If you can find me someone who wants to switch out or if a spot opens up then we'll get you in there," she said.

"Then get me in there or I'm going to take my classes online instead," I hissed at her. I turned around and got up to leave. I shook my head slowly in disappointment as I walked out of the guidance building. I still had to show up to my classes, especially since I paid for them. I rolled my eyes as I headed to M-Building for my architecture class, which was what I had first. 

"M-3," I whispered quietly to myself and walked along the short hall. It was the last classroom to my left. I walked in and looked among the other freshmen. I recognized no one. 

"What's your name, sir?" the professor asked me. 

"Shayley Bourget," I replied. He looked down at his clipboard and scrolled his finger along until he - I assumed - found my name.

"Ah, yes, Mr Bourget! You're sitting at computer twenty-one," he said and pointed towards the middle of the second row. I nodded and headed towards the computer I was assigned. It was now 7:40 A.M., meaning class had officially begun. 

"Sorry I'm late," a guy with short, curly brown hair says as he walks in. 

"It's the first day so I'll let it slide," the professor said sternly. "Name?"

"Tyler Carter," he answered in monotone. He seemed completely uninterested and I wondered why he chose to come if he didn't want to. This was college. He had a choice. 

"You're at computer twenty-two," the professor said and pointed next to me. I rolled my eyes and sighed mentally. 

Tyler strutted to the computer next to mine and whistled as he passed. 

"Nice ass," he smirked. I rolled my eyes again and flipped him off. 

"This ass is out of your league," I said. He scoffed.

"Whatever," he grunted and sat down. He ignored me for the rest of the class and I was fine with that. 

"Alright, I'm not waiting for any latecomers," the professor said. "I'm Professor McMaster. Welcome to freshmen architecture!" 

"Woo!" a kid in the front row yelled out. She was the only one who cheered. 

"The agenda for today: I'm going to go over how I run my classes and pass out a syllabus with my grading scales on it and I'll run through it. If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask. Also, I don't give out much homework so that should just be easy points for you," he said. "Those of you who I'll be seeing tomorrow, we'll be starting with our first lesson in Auto CAD - which is an architecture software tool for those of you who didn't know."

"Sir?" I asked and raised my hand. 

"I haven't even gotten to the syllabi yet," Professor McMaster chuckled. "What's your question?"

"Oh, uh, I don't have a question, uh, I just wanted to, um, let you know that I'm not supposed to be in this class," I said awkwardly. He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion.

"Isn't your major architecture?" he asked as he walked over to his desk to grab the stack of papers, which I assumed were the syllabi. I shake my head. 

"No," I said. "I'm supposed to be in commercial arts. I'm not sure why I was placed here."

"Weird," he shrugged. "Alright. Well, you can just chill until they fix it I guess."

"Okay," I said. 

-x-

"Government next," I muttered to myself and headed out of the architecture classroom. I had needed to find the F Building.

I headed out of M Building and made my way down the courtyard. I walked around until I had spotted the building with the large "F" on the side and made my way down toward it. 

"Hey, Shay!" I heard called out. I turned to my right and noticed Alan was waving at me. I waved back.

"Hi," I said. "Where are you going to?"

"Government," he answered. "The 8:30 class with Professor Armstrong."

"Oh really? Me too," I said and smiled. "We should sit next to each other. Since I have no friends."

"I'm your friend, dummy," he laughed. "But sure, I'll sit next to you."

"Thanks," I muttered. I looked over at him -- for perhaps a bit too long.

"What? Do I have something in my teeth?" he asked. I shook my head.

"No, no," I said. "It's nothing. Let's just go before we're late."

Alan nodded and walked by my side into F Building. We wandered around before finding F-7, which had been the first classroom on the left side. I was unsure on how we missed it when it was the first classroom in the hallway.

"There's two open seats over there," Alan said as he gestured towards two seats in the front that were back-to-back. 

"Cool," I said quietly and followed him. I sat in the front-row seat while Alan sat behind me. I whirled around in my chair and looked at him, waiting for him to continue the conversation.

"So-" Alan began but was cut off by the professor. I turned around again and looked at the man who had 

"Class! It's 8:35! Ya know what that means!" the professor shouted excitedly as he clapped his hands together. He walked towards the large whiteboard in the front of the room and grinned. "My name's Billie Joe, but to you it's Professor Armstrong! Welcome to Government, freshmen! And of course the rest of you upperclassmen who chose not to take it your freshman year to get it out of the way... But that's on you."

"He's got a pep in his step," I said quietly to Alan who chuckled at the remark. Professor Armstrong then had looked over at me.

"You two are cute! When are y'all gonna get married?" the professor asked. I froze and had felt myself blushing. I didn't dare to turn around and see what Alan looked like, but he had made no remark. 

"I- Uh-" I stammered and felt uncomfortable. I had been ignoring the intriguing thoughts of Alan since I had met him during the freshmen orientation. I hoped that Professor Armstrong would leave it and luckily he had. 

Alan and I didn't talk for the rest of class.

-x-

It was my free time during the day, and I was glad for that, as I had been through three classes straight. English was not fun: discomfort was felt the entire time. 

It was about fifteen past 10 o'clock in the morning and I decided that the free hour I was given would be my lunch. I walked towards the campus's cafeteria. My hands were sweaty and I was shaking and completely unnerved. I looked around as I walked awkwardly slow and hoped to see someone I knew. Alan, Awsten, Mike and Kellin all had classes this hour, and as far as I knew, those were the only people I had known, aside from the Tyler kid who had stated that I had a nice ass in my architecture class. Who knew who's ass he was really looking at. I didn't understand why he had made the comment that my ass looked like two watermelons connected to each other. "Yoga watermelon ass" he had called it. I came to the conclusion that Tyler was dumb. 

I continued walking and had made it to the front of the cafe before I heard someone call my name. 

"Shayley!" I heard again. I turned around to see someone familiar but I couldn't place a name to the face right away. I furrowed my eyebrows as the boy walked closer. Black hair, floppy-

"Tino?" I asked, realizing that I indeed knew who this was. I blinked in surprise as he nodded.

"Nice to see ya again, brotha!" he shouted happily as he pulled me into a "bro-hug", as he had called in back in middle school. I haven't seen him since the 7th grade. 

"Hey, man," I said and laughed. I looked at the other man who had followed Tino on his way over to me. "Who's this?"

"This is Aaron," Tino said as he patted the brunette's back. I smiled softly and waved at him. 

"Hey," Aaron said and waved back. Today wasn't as bad as I had thought it would be.

So far at least.


End file.
